Related articles

The 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ends with an award ceremony on Saturday evening. Over the past eight days festival-goers could take their pick from 220 films and around 60 premieres. The biggest celebrity at this year’s festival was Robert De Niro who presented his new film ‘What Just Happened’. On the opening night Mr De Niro received a Crystal Globe for his outstanding contribution to world cinema.

The International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary is drawing to a close and film fans are cramming cinema halls to see as much as they can in the remaining 24 hours. But few of those watching the movies get a look behind the scenes or find out how much hard work and preparation has gone into making the festival a success. Some time ago I met with Petr Alexander who is responsible for providing subtitles to the films shown at the festival. For him and his team of translators, the festival starts much earlier than for the rest of us:

Karlovy Vary is best-known for its health-giving waters. I’m right now inside the Sprudl Colonnade, or Vridelni kolonada, where people are filling up their special spa water mugs with all types of the hot, sulphurous stuff. But, for eight days a year, the attention shifts elsewhere, and a different crowd comes to Karlovy Vary for the biggest film festival in Central and Eastern Europe. This year, the festival has been bigger, busier and better than ever, here are just a few of the highlights…

Meanwhile in Karlovy Vary, American actor Danny Glover received a festival president’s award on Wednesday. Glover, who is known best for his performances in the Lethal Weapon action films, is in Karlovy Vary this week to promote his new film Honeydripper, directed by John Sayles. On Wednesday night at the Grand Hotel Pupp, Danny Glover was presented with his Crystal Globe by the festival’s head, Jiří Bartoška.

The New Hollywood section at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is back due to popular demand. This year, director Paul Mazursky and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond are just two of the big names presenting the festival’s retrospective of 1970s American films. The period, which spawned movies such as ‘Easy Rider’, ‘Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice’ and ‘McCabe and Mrs Miller’, is often thought of as one of Tinseltown’s finest. Variety magazine’s Steven Gaydos helped bring some of these classic Hollywood films to the Karlovy Vary film

The president of this year’s jury at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival is legendary Czech new wave director Ivan Passer. The man who made his name working with Miloš Forman, and then solo with films like ‘Intimate Lighting’ and ‘A Boring Afternoon’, has accepted the prestigious post and returned to the Czech Republic some 40 years after emigrating to the United States.

Monday at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival saw the world premiere of ‘Night Owls’ – one of the two Czech films in this year’s competition. The movie was directed by Oscar-nominated animator, Michaela Pavlátová, and stars the young Czech talents Martha Issová and Jiří Mádl. In the run up to the big screening, Rosie Johnston caught up with Michaela Pavlátová on the terrace at the spa town’s Hotel Thermal.

One of the most anticipated stars to appear at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was Robert De Niro. Thousands turned out on Friday to catch a glimpse of the actor as he walked up the red carpet at a downtown hotel. De Niro’s star turn marked the opening of the film festival and, as Rosie Johnston reports, there’s more on its way.

Bathory by Juraj Jakubisko, the most expensive central European film ever made, premiered at the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Saturday. The movie stars English actress Anna Friel in the role of the 17th century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory, famous for alleged serial murders. The film, co-produced by Czech companies, cost around 320 million crowns, or more than 21 million U.S. dollars. At the premiere, the Prague-based Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko was also awarded a Crystal Glove for his contribution to filmmaking.

The prestigious 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival gets underway on Friday with a special screening of Barry Levinson’s “What Just Happened” which premiered at Cannes. On Friday evening American actor Robert De Niro, who stars in the film, will receive a Crystal Globe honouring his contribution to film. Mr De Niro is famous for having worked with some of the world’s best directors, including Martin Scorcese and Quentin Tarantino. Some of the best-known films in which the actor has starred include The Godfather - Part II, Raging Bull, The Deerhunter, and Taxi Driver.